Cotton harvesters typically include harvesting structure mounted at a front or forward end of the cotton harvester for harvesting cotton materials from rows of cotton plants as the harvester is driven across the field. To increase harvesting capacity, additional row units have been added to the harvesting structure across the front of the harvester.
Modem high capacity cotton harvesters are typically very large structures and include a high volume or capacity basket. Although the baskets of modem cotton harvesters have been increased, such increases in basket size have been offset by the supplementation of additional harvesting units and, thus, harvesting capacity of the machine. Thus, the increased size of the basket on harvesters still required frequent emptying or dumping during the harvesting operation.
To arrange the harvested cotton materials as they are introduced into the basket, some cotton harvesters include one or more rotatable members that are configured as augers within the basket. Such augers are typically arranged toward a top of the basket to engage the harvested cotton materials as they are introduced into the basket. The turning movement of the auger tends to move the harvested cotton materials away from the inlet opening through which the cotton materials are introduced to the basket.
As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, during a harvesting procedure, the operator has a myriad of tasks and duties to perform. Accordingly, it is not uncommon for the level of harvested cotton materials in the basket to quickly rise and completely fill the basket. On occasion, the level of harvested cotton materials in the basket rises to a level that the power required to drivingly rotate the augers is significantly increased. At times, the level of cotton in the basket rises to such a level that the power driven motor provided for turning the augers stalls thus resulting in possible damage to the auger or motor.
Discharging or dumping of cotton materials from the basket is a time consuming task that steals away from the efficiency and effectiveness of the cotton harvester. Still further increases to the size of the basket does not appear to be an available option to solve the problem. Further increases to the basket size are likely to adversely affect the transportability of the harvester across rows and fields. Also, and as will be appreciated, power lines as well as sized openings in barns, buildings and the like through which the harvester is driven limit further increases to the basket size.
Thus, there remains and need a desire for an improved method and apparatus for filling a cotton receiving basket to increase the total capacity thereof without increasing the size of the basket.